Essential Military Research

These are the main components of the military research tree which you should concentrate on first.

Castellation

Level 1

Upgrade Keep for better Defence: Keep Lv 1

Level 2

Upgrade Keep for better Defence: Keep Lv 2

Level 3

Upgrade Keep for better Defence: Keep Lv 3

Level 4

Upgrade Keep for better Defence: Keep Lv 4

Level 5

Upgrade Keep for better Defence: Keep Lv 5

Level 6

Upgrade Keep for better Defence: Keep Lv 6

Level 7

Upgrade Keep for better Defence: Keep Lv 7

Level 8

Upgrade Keep for better Defence: Keep Lv 8

Level 9

Upgrade Keep for better Defence: Keep Lv 9

Level 10

Upgrade Keep for better Defence: Keep Lv 10

Castellation is pretty much the starting point for building your castle. It upgrades your keep and gives access to all the other researches for building a strong castle. The research itself upgrades your keep, turning it into a very strong defensive weapon.

Command

Level 1

Maximum army size: 10

Level 2

Maximum army size: 20

Level 3

Maximum army size: 30

Level 4

Maximum army size: 50

Level 5

Maximum army size: 70

Level 6

Maximum army size: 100

Level 7

Maximum army size: 150

Level 8

Maximum army size: 200

Level 9

Maximum army size: 300

Level 10

Maximum army size: 500

Command is what you need to research to increase your army size. You start of in stronghold kingdoms with a maximum army size of only 10 which is too small a number to attack anything really. You gain the biggest boost from this research at the higher levels so if you start researching it make sure to max it out completely.

Scouts

Level 1

Maximum number of scouts: 1

Level 2

Maximum number of scouts: 2

Level 3

Maximum number of scouts: 3

Level 4

Maximum number of scouts: 4

Level 5

Maximum number of scouts: 5

Level 6

Maximum number of scouts: 6

Level 7

Maximum number of scouts: 7

Level 8

Maximum number of scouts: 8

Increasing the number of scouts you can have means you can scout multiple resource stashes at once and gain honour quickly as well as acquire badly needed resources at the start of the game. This is something which you should research as soon as you move up through the ranks and unlock new levels of it.

Pillaging

Level 1

Number of resource that can be pillaged: 5%

Level 2

Number of resource that can be pillaged: 10%

Level 3

Number of resource that can be pillaged: 20%

Level 4

Number of resource that can be pillaged: 30%

Level 5

Number of resource that can be pillaged: 40%

Level 6

Number of resource that can be pillaged: 50%

Level 7

Number of resource that can be pillaged: 60%

Level 8

Number of resource that can be pillaged: 70%

Level 9

Number of resource that can be pillaged: 80%

Level 10

Number of resource that can be pillaged: 90%

Pillaging can provide you with a huge amount of extra resources. You can only raid one item in a person’s village at a time, for instance you can only attack their stockpile with a wave, meaning if you want to pillage a lot at once you must research up this very high. When full you can take 90% of a person’s resources which can give you a huge boost.

Forced March

Level 1

Increase army speed: 25%

Level 2

Increase army speed: 50%

Level 3

Increase army speed: 75%

Level 4

Increase army speed: 100%

Level 5

Increase army speed: 125%

Level 6

Increase army speed: 200%

Level 7

Increase army speed: 350%

Level 8

Increase army speed: 500%

At the start of stronghold kingdoms your armies move painfully slow and unless you research up forced march you will find other players attacking all your targets long before you. When full your armies move very fast and you can look to attacking targets far away and abroad in different countries.

Leadership

Level 1

Maximum number of villages: 2

Level 2

Maximum number of villages: 3

Level 3

Maximum number of villages: 4

Level 4

Maximum number of villages: 5

Level 5

Maximum number of villages: 6

Level 6

Maximum number of villages: 7

Level 7

Maximum number of villages: 8

Level 8

Maximum number of villages: 10

Level 9

Maximum number of villages: 11

Level 10

Maximum number of villages: 12

Level 11

Maximum number of villages: 13

Level 12

Maximum number of villages: 14

Level 13

Maximum number of villages: 15

Level 14

Maximum number of villages: 16

Level 15

Maximum number of villages: 17

Level 16

Maximum number of villages: 18

Level 17

Maximum number of villages: 19

Level 18

Maximum number of villages: 20

Level 19

Maximum number of villages: 21

Level 20

Maximum number of villages: 22

Level 21

Maximum number of villages: 23

Level 22

Maximum number of villages: 24

Level 23

Maximum number of villages: 25

Researching leadership allows you to build more villages. Combined with captain research it allows you to buy charters or conquer player villages to acquire more villages for yourself. Level 14 and on of this research will not appear until you reach crown prince rank, where you will see how it takes different crown prince degrees to acquire more villages.